1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a motor vehicle comprising a swinging door and a sliding door which are mounted in the frame of the vehicle without a central post between the swinging door and the sliding door.
2. Description of Related Art
The vehicle according to the invention is more particularly a vehicle of the single-volume type comprising, along one of its sides, for example a sliding rear door and a swinging front door. With this construction, the sliding door and the swinging door are contiguous when they are closed and the absence of the central post improves access to the interior of the vehicle.
It is necessary with this type of construction vehicle opening leaf to provide a lock connecting the sliding door to the swinging door in order to improve the mechanical strength of the vehicle, this lock being intended to withstand the forces between these two doors and thus reduce deformation of the vehicle in the event of an accident.
In the prior art, this lock is a conventional lock which is mounted on the swinging door and which connects to a striker mounted on the sliding door. With this conventional lock, closing the swinging door is possible only if the sliding door is closed, and closing the sliding door is possible only if the swinging door is open.
The purpose of the invention is to overcome this drawback by proposing an arrangement whereby the swinging door and the sliding door can be opened and closed independently of one another.
To this end, the subject of the invention is a motor vehicle comprising a swinging door and a sliding door mounted in a frame without a central post between the swinging door and the sliding door, and which comprises a first lock for connecting the swinging door to the sliding door, at least one second lock for connecting the swinging door to the frame, at least one third lock for connecting the sliding door to the frame and wherein the first lock has two latch bolts forming a gripper which closes around a striker.
With this two-latch bolt construction of the first lock, the striker can be engaged between the two latch bolts by arriving in two different directions with respect to the first lock, which means that the swinging and sliding doors can be opened and closed independently of one another. Furthermore, the second and third locks allow one of the doors to be closed when the other is open.
According to one preferred embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, the first lock comprises a slider which can move in terms of translation between a xe2x80x9cdeployedxe2x80x9d position and a xe2x80x9cretractedxe2x80x9d position and two latch bolts mounted so that they can rotate and forming a gripper which is open when the slider is in the xe2x80x9cdeployedxe2x80x9d position and which is closed when the slider is in the xe2x80x9cretractedxe2x80x9d position and a pawl capable of immobilizing said slider when it reaches the xe2x80x9cretractedxe2x80x9d position so as to keep the gripper closed and so as to release said slider when a handle for opening the lock is actuated, said latch bolts also being connected in movement to said slider so that said gripper closes around a striker when said striker presses against the slider and causes it to move from the xe2x80x9cdeployedxe2x80x9d position to the xe2x80x9cretractedxe2x80x9d position.
With this arrangement of the first lock, the striker can be mounted on the sliding door and the lock on the swinging door, or vice versa.
According to yet another particular embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, the two latch bolts of the first lock are coupled in terms of movement by a gearset and the slider is connected in terms of movement to just one of the two latch bolts which simplifies the spring-return mechanism of the lock and reduces its cost of manufacture.
According to yet another particular embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, said pawl releases said slider when a handle for opening the swinging door is actuated and said pawl releases said slider when a handle for opening the sliding door is actuated which makes it possible for the first lock to be opened irrespective of the opening of the sliding rear door or of the swinging front door.
According to yet another particular embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, the swinging door is connected to the frame by several second locks which are adjusted in such a way that when the swinging door is closed, there is a second lock which is always the last to close, this second lock being fitted with a closure detector, which makes it possible to obtain a reliable indication that the door is correctly closed.
According to yet another particular embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, the sliding door is connected to the frame by several third locks which are adjusted so that when the sliding door is closed, there is one third lock which is always the last to close, this third lock being fitted with a closure detector.
According to yet another particular embodiment of the vehicle according to the invention, the closure detector is an electric switch which reacts to a striker being pushed into the lock.
In this way, a user cannot act upon the detector to deliberately change its state, for example with a view to driving along with the corresponding door open.
The invention will now be described in greater detail and with reference to the appended drawings which illustrate one nonlimiting example of the embodiment thereof.